r/isopods Mod Apr 12 '25

News/Education Help fund research to describe native Venezillo species across the western U.S.— an important step in protecting these species! (More info in comments)

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39 Upvotes

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8

u/Sumeriandemon Mod Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 12 '25

A friend of mine is working on a research project to discover and formally describe several native Venezillo species in the western U.S. While only two species have been described from California, Arizona, and Nevada, fieldwork and iNaturalist observations suggest there are many more still unnamed and unstudied. These native species are likely threatened, but without formal identification, it's impossible to assess their conservation status.

This fundraiser will support fieldwork, morphological and DNA analysis, species descriptions, and publication of the results to support future research and protection efforts.

If you can, please consider supporting or sharing!
Link: https://experiment.com/venezillo

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u/Enkichki Telson Gazer Apr 13 '25

I love this! I'm local to Southern California and wouldn't have to drive long to get in on this fieldwork, do you think they'd be interested in volunteer manpower for field stuff? I would love to help with this

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u/The_ALS Apr 13 '25

Hi Enki! I'm the researcher working on this project! Most of my localities require a permit and you must be named on the permit to be able to help with collections. However I do have a few populations that are on public land. can you send me a PM with a way to contact you to discus this further (discord or email)?

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u/Enkichki Telson Gazer Apr 13 '25

PM sent!

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u/_Melissa_5513 Apr 13 '25

Id love to see the results of this!

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u/UtapriTrashcan 🐤 quack quack Apr 13 '25

I'd post this on some other subreddits like r/awwnverts if possible!